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Brake, ABS, VSC and ! lights on after smog inspection

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by geoffh, Mar 10, 2019.

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  1. geoffh

    geoffh Junior Member

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    Yesterday, I got a smog inspection on my 2008 Prius which has 100K miles on it. The smog inspection passed.
    But after driving away from the shop, I noticed my handbrake light on. I checked it and it was disengaged. Then I noticed that the !, ABS, and VSC lights were all on.

    I took it back to the shop and discussed it with the technician. He said all he did was hook it up to the port under the dash (OBD, I think).

    I checked these forums and did a bit of trouble shooting. I plan to take it to another shop tomorrow if I can't figure it out.

    I used the jumper method and wrote down the codes:
    ! - 66, 95
    ABS - 42
    VSC - 45

    I tried pumping the brake 8 times to clear the codes but this did not work for me. I tried several times.

    This morning after the car had been unused overnight, I checked the 12V battery. It read 14V, so the battery
    seems to be good. I think it is 6 years old.

    I have a number of questions:
    1. Is there any possibility that the technician caused the issue simply by connecting up to the OBD or did
    this just trigger something to cause the lights to go on?
    2. Does anyone know what the codes might indicate? Could it be a sensor malfunction or could it be
    that something simply needs to be reset?

    Any help is appreciated!

    Thanks,
    Geoff
     
  2. audiodave

    audiodave Active Member

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    The battery read 14volts with the car in ready mode or everything off?

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
  3. audiodave

    audiodave Active Member

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    Disconnecting the battery will reset it. Make sure the connections are clean and tight including body ground off battery.

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
  4. geoffh

    geoffh Junior Member

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    The 14V reading was with the car off (IGN-OFF).

    I tried disconnecting the battery and left it disconnected for 20 minutes.

    The codes were still there.
     
  5. audiodave

    audiodave Active Member

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  6. Jmack111

    Jmack111 Member

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    And the black box next to the battery it is the back up brake power

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
  7. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    More likely, this finding means that your meter is bad. Measure the voltage across a new 9V alkaline battery, which should be 9.6V. If your reading is much higher that is further evidence you need a new meter.

    There are a few posts on this website about how to clear DTC logged by the skid control ECU by using a jumper between pins 4 and 13 of the OBD-II connector. Research those posts and see if you can clear the codes with that method. Otherwise get Mini VCI (Toyota Techstream clone) so that you can retrieve the real DTC.
     
  8. geoffh

    geoffh Junior Member

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    Just wanted to follow up on this in case anyone is interested in how it turned out.

    I called my regular mechanic on Monday morning. I had gone to another mechanic to get the smog check
    because my mechanic doesn't do smog checks.

    I described the issue and he asked if my car had been on a dynanometer (treadmill). I told him I think
    it was because I saw one at the smog shop. He thought that probably what happened is that the
    computer got really confused because the back wheels were turning and the front wheels weren't.
    He suggested that I just drive the car for a couple of days and the lights should go off. And if they
    don't, then take the card in to him and he would reset the codes.

    So the lights did not go off after 2 days of driving, so I took it in to him. He hooked it up to his
    diagnostic tools and told me later that he wasn't sure what they had done, but the computer
    was totally screwed up. Simply resetting the codes didn't work. He had to do some additional
    re-calibration of the ABS system. Now the lights are off.

    Needless to say, the next time I have to get a smog check I'll go somewhere else...
     
  9. audiodave

    audiodave Active Member

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    Good it's figured out! Mine hasn't gone on the treadmill. Just hooked up to the computer. Do you have your ultra low emissions smog test? I'm curious of the numbers if it was done.

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
  10. bl817

    bl817 Junior Member

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    how did your mechanic do the additional re-calibration? same lights minus the VSC lights popped up on my 08' base model out of the blue. I got codes 69, 41 and 42 on the ABS light. to clear the lights with the paper clip in pins 4 and 13, you have to pump the brakes 8x in 5 secons after the car comes ready. you cant read the blinks then hit the brake pedal.
     
  11. padroo

    padroo Senior Member

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    Cars 1996 and newer have the DTC port for OBDII, I wonder why they would put it on the treadmill. The car computer just tells on itself anyway.
     
  12. geoffh

    geoffh Junior Member

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    Exactly, there was no need to put it on a treadmill. I'm not really sure what they did, but somehow the computer was totally screwed up.
    I did try the pin8/13 trick and did try pumping the brakes 8x in 5 seconds, but the lights would always come back. I tried this several times.
    I'm not sure exactly what my mechanic did, but he did mention that things were totally screwed up. Since he was willing to do it for me, I didn't really spend too much more time trying to figure it out.

    audiodave, regarding the numbers, the certificate I got just listed a bunch of tests with "passed" next to them. When I had an older car, a 1995 model year, I remember I would always get numbers. Probably that's because they had to actually measure things. With newer cars, the car already has all the numbers, from what I understand.

    By the way I found the following link describing smog testing in California. I found it very informative:
    How to Pass The Smog Inspection - SmogTips.com
     
    audiodave likes this.
  13. padroo

    padroo Senior Member

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  14. audiodave

    audiodave Active Member

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    Thanks, just be nice to see what the actual numbers are coming out the tailpipe of a Prius.

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.